WASHINGTON −Supreme Court heard arguments over whether TikTok can be banned in the U.S. later this month in a case that pits two major issues − freedom of speech versus national security − against each other.
Some of the 170 million Americans who use TikTok say the court has never confronted a free speech case that matters to so many people.
The Biden administration, which is defending a law requiring TikTok cut ties with the Chinese government or be banned, said the wildly popular short-form video app presents a grave threat to national security. China can gather data on Americans or manipulate the content on TikTok to shape U.S. opinion, the government argues.
Lawyers for TikTok and for a group of TikTok creators argued the law will deprive users of their preferred digital publishers, infringing on their right to free expression. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said that as long as TikTok is owned by China-based ByteDance, U.S. national security is at risk.
Unless the high court intervenes, Google, Apple and internet providers won’t be allowed to make TikTok available after Jan. 19.
Follow along for live coverage and updates.
Arguments conclude in Supreme Court TikTok ban appeal
Each side has made its case to the nine justices and the high court has adjounred. Lawyers for TikTok will speak to reporters at 3 p.m. Eastern at the National Press Club.
Alito questions temporarily blocking the TikTok ban
Justice Samuel Alito asked whether the court could temporarily block the law, which is scheduled to ban TikTok on Jan. 19.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said the court shouldn’t do that unless TikTok was likely to win based on its First Amendment claim of a right to distribute its content. She said it wasn’t just an executive action, but done in concert with bipartisan majorities in Congress.
“I think this court doesn’t have any basis to enter a temporary injunction unless it thinks petitioners are likely to succeed on the merits of the First Amendment claim,” Prelogar said. “To be honest, I think there is no argument to be made that you should find that likely success.”
Alito also asked whether the court could administratively halt the law temporarily. Prelogar said she would defer to the justices about whether they have enough time to decide the case, but that both sides were ready to argue the case Friday.
“I think it is in the interest of Congress’ work and our national security to resolve the case and allow the statute to take effect,” Prelogar said.
–Bart Jansen
Sotomayor: TikTok ban would still be valid even if Trump doesn’t enforce it
Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed out that President-elect Donald Trump, during his first term, tried to require divestiture – even though he now opposes a ban.
She said she’s concerned that a president-elect might choose not to enforce a law, and a company would ignore enforcement. There would still be a violation, she emphasized.
“Whatever the new president does,” Sotomayor said, “doesn’t change that reality for those companies.”
−Maureen Groppe
Kavanaugh: Can Trump choose not to enforce the ban?
Justice Brett Kavanaugh probed whether President-elect Donald Trump – who opposes a ban – can choose not to enforce it after he takes office on Jan. 20.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said presidents, in general, have enforcement discretion.
But Apple, Google and any other conduits for the app may not feel that’s enough protection from the law’s stiff penalties, Kavanaugh said.
Prelogar said that’s not necessarily the case.
But she said Trump might want to review all the national security information that has been gathered since he was last in office before deciding whether to enforce the ban.
−Maureen Groppe
Prelogar: ByteDance information sharing ‘eye-opening’
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said the Biden administration discussed potential limits on ByteDance’s data sharing for years before Congress passed the law to ban it, but found no way to create a true firewall between U.S.-based TikTok and its Chinese-controlled parent.
“That didn’t come across enough in the briefs,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.
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Prelogar said there are enormous amounts of data flowing between TikTok and ByteDance to keep the algorithm updated about what are the best videos to promote. Under a confidential security agreement that ByteDance proposed, Prelogar said, a wealth of information about Americans goes back to China.
“It’s eye-opening,” Prelogar said. “It creates this gaping vulnerability in the system because once that data is in China, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) can demand that ByteDance turn that data over and keep that assistance secret.”
−Bart Jansen
Justice Department says First Amendment not an issue
Justices Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch both pressed the Justice Department’s attorney on why the government’s concern about China’s content manipulation doesn’t make the law “content based” – which would implicate the 1st Amendment.
“It’s kind of hard to avoid the word `content,’” Gorsuch said.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said she’s not disputing that the law is related to content. But the 1st Amendment would only come into play if Congress was trying to discriminate against particular subject matters or viewpoints, she said.
“Here, Congress just wants to cut the PRC out of the equation altogether and all the same speech could continue to happen on the platform,” Prelogar said.
Prelogar also emphasized that the law had broad bipartisan support, which is not always the case.
−Maureen Groppe
Roberts asks if China is fueling American arguments through TikTok
Chief Justice John Roberts asked whether the government was saying “ByteDance through TikTok is trying to get Americans to argue with each other?”
“If they do, I’d say they’re winning,” Roberts said to laughter in the court.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said it very well might be true.
“China is a foreign adversary nation that looks for every opportunity it has to weaken the United States and to try to threaten our national security,” Prelogar said. “If it has control over this key communications channel, it’s hard to predict … exactly how it’s going to use that as a tool to harm our interest.”
−Bart Jansen
Government says China disclosure not good enough
Justice Neil Gorsuch pushed the government on why requiring TikTok to disclose that China could manipulate content wouldn’t adequately address its concerns.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said a “generic, generalized disclosure” wouldn’t reasonably put users on notice about when the manipulation is happening.
Does that mean the average American won’t be able to figure out that cat videos can be manipulated by China, Gorsuch asked.
Prelogar responded by comparing the situation to a sign in a store telling customers that one of the million items in that store causes cancer.
“That is not going to put you on notice about what product is actually jeopardizing your health,” she said.
−Maureen Groppe
Alito asks if TikTok’s ‘magical algorithm’ is like a favorite shirt
Justice Samuel Alito asked whether another company could take TikTok’s place if the company went dark, “to take advantage of the very lucrative market.”
“I’m just wondering whether this is like somebody’s attachment to an old article of clothing,” Alito said. “Is there some reason to think only ByteDance has devised this magical algorithm?”
More:Supreme Court Justice Alito spoke to Trump – says they didn’t discuss legal cases
Jeffrey Fisher, a lawyer for TikTok creators, said they have tried to post on other sites and “fallen dramatically short.”
“I think empirically other companies have been trying for a few years to catch up with TikTok and replicate it and have been very unsuccessful,” Fisher said.
−Bart Jansen
Justice Department calls TikTok a `grave threat’
Lawyers for TikTok and the TikTok creators have completed their arguments. Now it’s the Justice Department’s turn.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar began her argument by saying TikTok poses a “grave threat” to national security from the People’s Republic of China.
“No one disputes that the PRC seeks to undermine U.S. interest by amassing vast quantities of sensitive data about Americans and by engaging in covert influence operations,” she said.
Acknowledging that millions of Americans enjoy expressing themselves on the platform, Prelogar said the law has a “laser like focus” on that threat by requiring TikTok cut ties with China.
“The First Amendment does not bar Congress from taking that critical and targeted step to protect our nation’s security,” she said.
−Maureen Groppe
TikTok creators could win case for their content: lawyer
Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked if there was any way for the TikTok creators to win the case – because of their concerns about having a place to post their content – even if the company were to lose.
Jeffrey Fisher, a lawyer for creators, said it’s possible because the core speech on the platform is the millions of videos posted daily. He said the court has recognized that American listeners have a right to receive information from specific places.
“I think it’s possible,” Jeffrey Fisher said to laughter in the courtroom. “I don’t think we should.”
−Bart Jansen
Gorsuch raises concern about the government’s use of classified information
In one of the few concerns justices have expressed so far about the government’s position, Justice Neil Gorsuch said he worries about the Justice Department using classified information to help make their case about a national security threat.
Because the information is classified, TikTok isn’t able to look at it to counter it.
That issue came up when the appeals court considered the case. But when siding with the government, that court said they did not rely on the classified information.
−Maureen Groppe
Attorney not sure Trump can extend TikTok deadline after taking office
Justice Neil Gorsuch asked if the incoming administration can extend the Jan. 19th deadline once Donald Trump takes office, even if the Supreme Court sides against TikTok.
“Is that possible as you read the law?” Gorsuch asked Jeffrey Fisher, the lawyer for TikTok content providers.
Fisher said he wasn’t sure and said Gorsuch should ask the Justice Department’s attorney, who is up next.
Gorsuch said he plans to do that.
−Maureen Groppe
Even if TikTok closes down, it’s keeping user data: lawyer
Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked whether lawmakers could separate provisions of the legislation between security concerns over data collection and forcing TikTok to discuss its algorithm.
Jeffrey Fisher, a lawyer for the creators, criticized the law if the goal was to prevent data sharing.
If the company closes down, “TikTok gets to keep all data,” Fisher said. “It’s a very weird law if you’re just looking at it through a data-security lens. Maybe Congress could do better.”
−Bart Jansen
What would a TikTok ban mean for users?
A TikTok ban wouldn’t mean the app disappears from current users’ phones on Jan. 19.
New users in the U.S. would likely no longer be able to download TikTok from app stores, and it would become inaccessible through internet browsers. Current users would no longer be able to download software and security updates, and the app could become unusable over time.
But there may be ways for users to work around the ban. Content creators on the app have spread videos about using a virtual private network, or VPN, as a way to hide their location to access TikTok.
−Bailey Schulz
Thomas questions how law hurts TikTok users
Justice Clarence Thomas asked how the law hurt the free speech of TikTok’s users.
“It doesn’t say anything about creators or people who use the site,” Thomas said. “It’s only concerned about the ownership and the concerns that data will be manipulated or there will be other national security problems with someone who is not a citizen of this country.”
Jeffrey Fisher, a lawyer representing TikTok creators, said the law regulates their text, images, real time communications and videos. He argued that Congress shouldn’t be able to dictate the ownership of platforms, such as forcing X, formerly known as Twitter, to close if it changed owners
“American creators have the right to work with the publishers of their choice,” Fisher said.
−Bart Jansen
More:What is Lemon8? Social media app grows in popularity but may be banned with TikTok
Listen in: Live Supreme Court arguments on the TikTok ban case
Audio of today’s arguments can be accessed through the Supreme Court’s website.
The arguments are scheduled for two hours but are expected to go longer.
−Maureen Groppe
TikTok content creators’ lawyer: `Mere ideas do not constitute a national security threat’
The lawyer representing content creators on TikTok opened his arguments by telling the justices the creators have the right to use the publisher of their choice.
Americans have long enjoyed the right to work with foreign publishers, Jeffrey Fisher said, calling TikTok the most vibrant speech forum in the U.S.
The government’s concern that China can covertly manipulate content on that forum is not enough to overcome the 1st Amendment issues, he said.
“Mere ideas do not constitute a national security threat,” Fisher said, and restricting speech because it might sow doubt about U.S. leaders or undermine democracy “are the kinds of things our enemies do.”
“It is not what we do in this country,” he said.
−Maureen Groppe
Kavanaugh: Potential TikTok data sharing ‘huge concern’
Justice Brett Kavanaugh said Congress and the president were concerned China is harvesting information about Americans over time to develop spies and blackmail people years from now.
“Is that not a realistic assessment by Congress and the president of the risks here?” Kavanaugh asked.
Noel Francisco, a Tiktok lawyer, said the platform’s data is stored on Oracle servers in Virginia. He said the law should be overturned or at least blocked temporarily because Congress didn’t consider alternatives such as “massive penalties” like fining or jailing TikTok workers for data disclosures.
“I’m not disputing the risks,” replied Francisco. “I certainly acknowledge the risk but I think there are lots of reasons why that risk still can’t justify the law.”
Kavanaugh said concerns remain.
“That seems like a huge concern for the future of the country,” Kavanaugh said.
−Bart Jansen
TikTok on Jan 19: `Essentially the platform shuts down’
Asked by Justice Brett Kavanaugh what will happen on Jan. 19 if the law is not blocked, TikTok’s lawyer said the platform will shut down.
“At least as I understand it, we go dark,” Noel Francisco said. “Essentially the platform shuts down.”
After President-elect Trump takes office on Jan. 20, he said, “we might be in a different world.”
Trump has said he thinks he can find another way to address the national security concerns without infringing on 1st Amendment rights.
That’s why, Francisco said, the Supreme Court should at least put the law on hold to “buy everyone some breathing space.”
−Maureen Groppe
Roberts asks for a previous decision that would back up TikTok’s argument
Chief Justice John Roberts pushed back on TikTok’s argument that the government’s interference with the company’s ownership infringes on the expression of other people.
He asked TikTok’s lawyer to point to a previous case where regulating a corporate structure has been treated as a violation of the 1st Amendment.
Francisco said he didn’t have an example at his fingertips. But he said it’s still clear that government telling a company “you have to stop talking unless somebody ese does something” directly affects the company’s speech.
−Maureen Groppe
Kagan: Doesn’t the law target a foreign company?
Justice Elana Kagan pushed TikTok on why the main effects of the law are on TikTok, rather than the parent company ByteDance, which is not protected by the 1st Amendment.
TikTok can still go out and find the best available algorithm if it’s divested from ByteDance, she said.
TikTok’s lawyer said the effects on the American company are not incidental. The company won’t be able to operate in 10 days unless it’s sold.
Francisco also said ByteDance has 1st Amendment rights when it is operating in the United States, as do TikTok and its users.
−Maureen Groppe
Justice Barrett: Congress concerned about China manipulating TikTok content
Justice Amy Coney Barrett said TikTok’s examples of free speech include the independence to be supportive of China. She said the concern is with covert manipulation of those messages.
“A lot of your examples talk about … the right of an American citizen to repeat what a foreign entity says, or say, ‘I’m hitching my wagon to China. I want to say everything China does,’” Barrett said. “Here the concern is about the covert content manipulation of the algorithm. That is something that ByteDance wants to speak, right?”
Noel Francisco, a TikTok lawyer, said it was ultimately TikTok’s choice whether to put content on the platform and he denied that TikTok wants to parrot Chinese propaganda.
“We absolutely resist any kind of content manipulation by China at all,” Francisco said.
−Bart Jansen
Does China control TikTok? `Somebody has to be right.’
Justice Neil Gorsuch said the government and TikTok dispute how much control China has over the company and asked what the record shows.
“Somebody has to be right,” he said.
Francisco said TikTok can choose not to use ByteDance’s algorithm, though that would be a bad business decision.
But if TikTok is being pressured by China to do something nefarious, the company can shut down. That underscores why TikTok, an American company, has First Amendment rights, Francisco said.
−Maureen Groppe
TikTok lawyer says nation’s history of preventing foreign control of media not relevant
Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked whether the justices should consider the long history of the government preventing foreign control of media, one of the considerations cited by an appeals court judge who earlier sided with the government.
Francisco said that’s not important in this case because previous restrictions were tied to the limited number of broadcasting licenses available. There’s no scarcity on the internet, he said.
−Maureen Groppe
Thomas: What is TikTok’s speech?
The case turns at least in part on whether TikTok has a First Amendment right to keep operating, so Justice Clarence Thomas asked “exactly what is TikTok’s speech here?”
Thomas asked why a restriction on ByteDance, a Chinese company, represents a limit on TikTok.
Noel Francisco, a former solicitor general representing TikTok, said it is the algorithm that decides what is the best mix of content for its users. Losing the ByteDance algorithm thorugh a sale of TikTok, would limit the app’s ability to serve its users.
“That’s a direct burden on TikTok’s speech,” Francisco said.
–Bart Jansen
Young people ponder a post-TikTok world
Nora Miller, 20, walked to the Supreme Court with a gaggle of Drake University students before the sun came up this morning for a shot at witnessing history. The case, Miller said, has been a constant topic of conversation among people her age.
But her classmate, Olivia Swaney, said the prospect of TikTok vanishing on Jan. 19 still doesn’t feel real.
“This will be the first time we really see a whole lot of, like, regulation on social media,” Swaney said. “It feels unreal but real at the same time that we’re having a Supreme Court case over an app that we all like to watch cat videos on.”
If the Court upholds the ban, Miller and Swaney say they’ll likely increase their use of Instagram because the algorithms of the photo app are the most similar. Others, including 21-year-old Eli Benson, say they might take a TikTok ban as a cue to decrease their social media consumption.
“Maybe this is my sign to be done,” Benson said. “I would be ready for a little bit less social media.”
−Karissa Waddick
Trump pledges to ‘save TikTok’ after first trying to ban it
President-elect Donald Trump claims he can “save” TikTok and asked the Supreme Court to pause a law that could ban the social media platform in the U.S. − a big change from his first term, when he wanted it shut down.
Congress agreed last year to ban TikTok by Jan. 19 unless it was divested from ByteDance, its China-based parent company, because of national security concerns about the Chinese gathering data on American users.
That position echoed Trump’s position in 2020, when he signed an executive order as president ordering ByteDance to sell or spin off its U.S. assets within 90 days. The order was challenged in court and never came to fruition.
More:Trump becomes first ex-president sentenced for criminal conviction: live updates
Since then, Trump has accumulated 14.7 million followers on TikTok and founded his own social media platform, Truth Social. During 2024, he campaigned that he could “save TikTok.”
Trump told the Supreme Court taht voters have given him a mandate to protect their free-speech rights.
−Bart Jansen
Arguments begin in pivotal free speech case
The lawyer representing TikTok opened his argument by telling the justices that one of American’s most popular speech platforms will shut down in nine days unless they intervene.
Banning TikTok, Noel Franciso said, would violate the free speech rights of the company and its users.
The law Congress passed is singling the platform out for “uniquely harsh treatment” because of the government’s fear about what might happen in the future.
There are better ways of addressing that concern, he said.
−Maureen Groppe
College students question national security concerns central to case
Monica Vasquez, 21, huddled with friends and fellow students from a University of California semester program in Washington, D.C., to stay warm as she waited to enter the Supreme Court.
Vasquez, a political science student, said she was intrigued by the case’s central questions about whether a ban on the video platform would inhibit the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
Like many people her age, Vasquez said she predominantly gets her news from the social media platform and doesn’t see the national security concerns others have warned about.
“People are like, ‘Oh, but they’re stealing our data. I was like, ‘Everyone’s stealing my data,’” she said. “You’re banning a whole app because of the fact that it’s not run by America, it’s a Chinese company. I think that’s kind of insane.”
−Karissa Waddick
Will classified information come into play?
Not all the information the government has to persuade the court that TikTok poses a “grave” national security risk can be presented in public. Classified information is also part of the record.
The appeals court judges who sided with the government said they did not rely on the classified information in upholding the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
Lawyers for TikTok told the Supreme Court they shouldn’t even consider the classified materials since they weren’t part of the decision they’re reviewing.
−Maureen Groppe
TikTok creators and small business owners fear death of app
Callie Goodwin flew in from South Carolina with her friend and fellow TikTok content creator Sarah Baus to watch the oral arguments on Friday. Goodwin, 30, and Baus, 27, both said they rely on TikTok for their livelihoods.
Goodwin, who owns a small greeting card and personalized gift store called Sparks Of Joy Co, said as much as 98% of her sales come from people who find her business on TikTok. Several months ago, during the height of the holiday gift shopping season, she said she sold over $30,000 worth of products on the app in just nine days.
“If we were to lose TikTok, I really fear for the survival of my business,” Goodwin told USA TODAY while waiting in line Friday morning. She argues that TikTok’s unique algorithm allows small businesses like hers to flourish in a way other platforms, like Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, don’t.
“We’ve got 115,000 followers over on TikTok. We’ve got, like, less than 3,000 (followers) combined between Instagram and Facebook,” she said. “To have that entire community, that customer base, and that ability to reach our target audience wiped out would be devastating for my business.”
−Karissa Waddick
TikTok is a growing source of news for Americans
The debate over TikTok comes as the platform has grown in popularity as a source of information.
About four in ten young adults in the U.S. regularly get news from the app, according to the Pew Research Center.
No social media platform the center has studied has seen faster growth in the share of Americans who regularly turn to it for news.
−Maureen Groppe
Creators want Trump to fulfill promise to ‘save TikTok’
President-elect Donald Trump, in a legal filing last month, urged the Supreme Court to pause the impending ban. He said that once he takes office on Jan. 20, he can find a way to address the national security concerns about TikTok without compromising free speech.
If the court does not do that, Trump could direct his attorney general not to enforce the ban. The problem with that is whether Apple, Google and any other conduits for the app will feel that’s enough protection from the law’s stiff penalties.
−Maureen Groppe
More:Can Trump save TikTok? The ‘Art of the Deal’ President wants to try
TikTok or nothing, says one creator, snubbing Reels and YouTube
Around 70 people waited outside the Supreme Court on Friday morning in 20 degree weather to hear oral arguments. Almost all were bundled up in with scarfs, hats and hoods over their heads — some wrapped themeselves in blankets and one man wore ski goggles.
Ashley Wilson, 30, arrived at the Court last night around 7:30 p.m. to get a spot in line. Aside from two brief bathroom breaks at her apartment in DC’s nearby Chinatown, she’s been here for more than 12 hours.
A lawyer by day, Wilson runs a TikTok channel where she streams court cases and discusses criminal law. Amid the Arctic chill, she was live-streaming her experience in line and explaining the contours of the case for followers.
More:No more ‘Facebook jail’: What will take the place of Meta’s fact-checking system
“I’m honestly going in with an open mind,” she said. “I’m ready to hear evidence, if there is evidence of threats. I’m not sure that we’ve covered evidence of that so so far about national security concerns, but I’m very open minded to hearing it.”
If the court upholds the pending TikTok ban, Wilson said she’ll likely find another hobby rather than migrating her content to another platform − like Meta’s Instagram Reels or YouTube.
−Karissa Waddick
When will the Supreme Court make a decision on TikTok?
The court is hearing the case on an extremely expedited basis because of the impending Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok to divest from its parent company, ByteDance.
The court could decide quickly whether to at least pause the deadline while the justices decide if they will uphold the law.
Although that wouldn’t be a final decision, it would give a strong indication of which way the court is likely to rule.
Who is arguing before the Supreme Court?
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the Biden administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, is taking on one last big case before the change in administrations.
Prelogar will face off against Noel Francisco, who was President-elect Donald Trump’s solicitor general in Trump’s first administration and is representing TikTok.
Jeffrey Fisher, a partner at O’Melveny & Myers who has argued four dozen cases at the court, is representing TikTok creators.
What is the legal issue being decided?
The justices are debating whether requiring the divesture of TikTok from ByteDance infringes on Americans’ 1st Amendment rights of free speech.
If it does, the government has to convince the court that they have a good reason for doing so and that the law is narrowly tailored to achieve that goal.
How high a bar this will be for the government to clear depends on how much − if at all − the justices think the law is regulating speech.
How did the lower court rule?
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously upheld the law.
Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote that the law was was “carefully crafted” and is part of a broader effort to counter a well-substantiated national security threat posed by China.
Two of three judges were appointed by Republican presidents −Trump and Ronald Reagan. The third was appointed by a Democrat, Barack Obama.
What is the law TikTok is challenging?
Congress last year passed the law being challenged with broad bipartisan support and President Joe Biden signed it into law.
TikTok had proposed ways of addressing the government’s concern without a sale.
But the Biden administration concluded that some data of U.S. users would still flow to China and ByteDance would still be able to exert control over TikTok’s operations in the U.S. The administration also didn’t trust that ByteDance would comply in good faith and didn’t think the U.S. could adequately monitor compliance.
This article was originally published by a www.usatoday.com . Read the Original article here. .